Portland (Multnomah Falls)

My first order of business this morning was to drive out to the homeless encampment under the 405 to see if I could narrow down the Apple tracker signal. While I did not get out of the car to go exploring on my own, I could see that it was within a block, and likely within one of a few tents on a corner. I again called Portland PD to pester them to send out an officer to accompany me on a foot search. I was again pleasantly surprised at the patience of dispatch for a low-value property crime. I already knew the drill - an officer would call me back from an unidentified number. Because I did not know when the call back would come, I decided to drive over to Forest park at least to check it out. I had barely gotten out of the car at one of the trailheads when Officer Jett called me back. To my surprise, he agreed to meet me back at the encampment to do a foot search.

I hastily drove back and a few minutes later Officer Jett and two of his colleagues arrived. We followed the bouncing blue dot and started canvassing tents. I was impressed with how the officers handled the residents. The made sure to let them know they had done nothing wrong and that we were just looking for an item. They always asked if they could enter when a tent was occupied. I felt it was very respectful and they clearly had a working relationship with this group of un-homed individuals. We found one tent with a collection of suitcases, but mine was not among them. Eventually, I was able to get the tracker to ping when we were in a particular area. We finally located it underneath a tarp. Sadly, it was just the naked tracker, no luggage attached. I was not at all surprised to find just the tracker - I knew that was a distinct possibility. And the officers confirmed this was not the first time this had happened, However, it was pretty sophisticated to find the tracker I had tucked in a net pocket discarded with the intent to mislead. Clearly the person or people targeting the garages is organized and has thought this out.

Well, at least I knew that any last shred of hope had disappeared that I might find some of my belongings. I had anyway started purchasing items on-line last night, shipping them home to collect on the day I will spend at home repacking for Hawaii. And I could formally move on. I do have to give kudos to the Portland PD for sending out three officers to poke around in the muck. All gave it their best with a great attitude.

I took a quick lunch break back in my room, then walked over to Patagonia to look for a couple of specific items of outerwear. Casey helped me find a replacement light down jacket and vest and Matthew checked me out. Of course I was bending anyone’s ear who would listen with my story. Matthew shared his own car break-in story and said that it was practically a rite of passage for Portland. That is just sad. However, he did give me a pity discount of 25%, which was incredibly kind and compassionate. Technical clothing is not cheap.

I walked back to collect my car and, finally, drive out to Multnomah Falls . The wind was up, making it pretty difficult to photograph from the bridge due to the spray. I had to get a bit creative to capture any photos without the bridge. But at least I finally was able to do something other than deal with the break-in and theft. It was definitely a baby step on the way to moving forward and I felt better for it.

Tomorrow I drive out to the coast to meet my friend R to experience and hopefully photograph the King Tide. I can’t say that I will be sad to leave Portland behind.